Pontiac’s iteration of a pocket rocket
This is going to be somewhat of a paradoxical review because as any of you that have followed my evaluations over the years know, I am a big fan of roadsters. There have been very few times over the last bunch of years that I haven’t had one in my garage so it’s with very mixed emotions that I give you my take of the 2009 Solstice GXP. I have to be fair and say that coming out of the G8 GXP and getting into the Solstice, from a performance perspective is just not fair.
The G8 is a really good car with a huge fun quotient and lot’s of low end grunt and while there is no doubt that the Solstice is a killer looking car, after driving the G8 GXP, I think my performance expectations for the Solstice were just a bit high.
Let me explain what I mean. The Solstice GXP is powered by a 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo-charged engine that puts out 260 horsepower at 5300 rpm and 260 lb-ft of torque at 2500 rpm, That means that power kicks in at about 2500 rpm so there needs to be a lot of throttle input to get the rpm’s up to move the car off the line. Evidence of just how much throttle it took was that I actually stalled the car 4 or 5 times. And let me tell you, that’s something that I haven’t done since I learned how to drive a stick shift tranny almost 50 years ago.
Now that I got that out of the way, let’s talk about what I like about the Solstice. First and foremost we have the looks. It is a very sharp looking car and with the top angling downward towards the windshield and 18-inch wheels it sports a very aggressive stance. Part of what makes the car look so sinister with the top up is the aforementioned angled top and the flying buttresses at the rear windshield that snap into the hard convertible top cover. Drop the top and it gets even better. This is without a doubt a very slick looking roadster.
The Solstice is all about driving though and believe me, you will enjoy the ride because the Solstice corners like its on rails and for being a very small wheelbase car it easily soaks up road imperfections without the ride being overly choppy or harsh. Once you get the car going and get the rpm’s in the 2500 plus range, the turbocharged 4-cylinder delivers power smoothly and efficiently and the fun quotient soars as you wend your way through whatever twisties you can find. Steering is solid and gives enough feedback to make the driver feel secure and in control. Seating is comfortable the ergonomics are well laid out with one minor exception. The gauges are set so deep into buckets on the dash that driving into the sun made reading them a bit difficult as I tried to avoid getting my picture taken by speed camera’s here in Phoenix set to monitor 55 mph speed limits. I suppose it could be my aged eyes though.
Along with the usual complement of safety features, ABS, Traction Control systems, DRL’s Dual Airbags, GM includes 1-year of OnStar which I like a lot. The base price of the GXP is $28,460.00 and the tester added A/C, audio upgrades, 18-inch chrome wheels and a spoiler for an additional $3045.00 bringing the total including shipping to $32,125.00. There is some pretty stiff competition in the sub $30,000 range including the best selling sports car of all time the Mazda Miata; I still have trouble with the MX-5 moniker, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder and of course the sister of the Solstice the Saturn Sky. However when you start cracking the $30,000 figure there is some pretty stiff competition like the, the Nissan 350Z, and Honda S2000.
So how does the Solstice GXP fare against its competitors? Well it’s hard to beat as far as styling, it’s okay when it comes to performance but sorely lacking when it comes to storage. There really just isn’t any and while that may not a deal killer, it can be problematic.
Bottom line though, don’t buy a two seat roadster without driving the Solstice because over all it is a very natty little pocket rocket.
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